Ever Emily
by Bunny Wilde
Summary: Emily, Winnie's granddaughter, meets Jesse, and they start to get very close. Unfortunately, some people in town start to notice some weird things about the Tucks. Rated just in case of language later. Based more off the movie.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I didn't make up any of the original Tuck Everlasting characters. However hot Jesse Tuck and Miles Tuck are, they're not mine:( 

The slight breeze rustled the black skirt of Emily's little dress, a skirt that ended short enough to show her shiny plastic black buckle-up shoes. Her nut-brown hair floated on the wind. She looked into the open grave at her feet. She had watched the adults cry, and hug, and kiss, and grieve, all for this woman in this long wooden box. Emily didn't understand it. Then again, as the adults thought, what would a four-year-old really know about death? At this age, they reasoned, it must seem that people lived forever. Well, Emily, although too young to describe death, or explain how it made her feel, could understand that her Grandma Winnie was gone, and wouldn't ever come back. She knew that something that used to be Grandma Winnie was lying in the box in a hole in the ground. What she didn't understand was why they were mourning for the thing in the box when that thing was clearly _not_ her grandmother.

She looked at the flower in her hand, and let it fall softly into the hole and on top of the oak coffin. Then she turned away and went to find her mother. She made her way through the sea of long black skirts and trousers until she found a woman standing with her back to the grave and the people, and looking out at the other graves. Emily ran up to her, and put her arms around the woman's legs.

"Mama," she said, "are you crying?"

The woman looked down at her daughter, tears glistening on her face, and leaned down to pick her up.

"People cry when they're sad," she replied, holding Emily on her hip, "And sometimes they cry when they're happy."

"You're happy, mama?" asked Emily, not understanding.

"Yes, baby," said her mother, "I'm happy that Grandma Winnie is in heaven."

Emily put her arms around her mother's neck, and rested her head on her shoulder. "I'm happy she's in heaven, too."

"That's good, sweetie," said her mother, stroking her back. They started to walk away, back toward the church. "Wow," said her mom, "You're getting big. You must be growing up, huh?"


	2. A Nagging Memory

Trees flashed past the car window, and sunlight flickered around the passenger seat, which had been put back almost flat. Emily was lying down with her headphones. Music drowned out everything else, and her fingers tapped a rhythm on the top of her CD player. Every time sunlight passed over her face, there was a brief red flash beneath her eyelids, and a moment of warmth.

Something touched her arm. She pushed her headphones down around her neck and sat up, looking over at her mother.

"Yeah?"

"I can hear those headphones loud and clear, you know," said her mother, eyes back on the road. "You must be killing your ears."

"It's not that bad, mom," said Emily, resisting the urge to roll her eyes. "Seriously, it's not that loud."

"Just turn it down, Em," said her mom, "Please."

Emily sighed and turned the volume dial down. She hated it when her mom called her Em. She put her headphones back on and looked out the window. They were nearing the town. She couldn't wait to see her aunt and uncle, and her cousins, Matt and Kaylie. The downside was that the town was tiny. She couldn't imagine living there.

As they entered the edge of the town, Emily noticed the graveyard off the side of the road. The one where her grandmother was buried. Her mom always took the route past the graveyard. Emily noticed one person walking among the tombstones and memorials. She squinted to see him better.

That was odd. She could have sworn she'd seen that boy before. He was tall, with reddish-brown hair, wearing a black t-shirt, and standing by a motorcycle. He turned to look their way as their car passed by, and Emily was sure. She'd definitely seen him before.

She lay back against the seat, and closed her eyes, trying to remember anything about the boy. Tall, reddish hair… where had she seen him?

"We're almost their, Emily," said her mom, tapping her on the shoulder. Emily stopped her CD player, and put up the seat. They were coming into the part of town with all the houses. She stuffed her CD player in her backpack, and looked expectantly out the window.

They drove past new houses with neat lawns and porches, and then started to get into the older houses. They turned off onto a separate road, and drove for a little while, until a old, large, blue house came into view. The lawn was surrounded by a black metal fence, one of those ones that have spiky tips along the top. As they drove up to the house, the door opened, and two kids flew out, followed by a tall woman with long, strait blonde hair, and a strong man with thick dark hair and blue-green eyes.

Emily smiled and jumped out of the car, running to meet her two cousins. Matt had shaggy brown hair, and hazel eyes, like his mom. Kaylie had thick dark hair and blue-green eyes, like her dad. Emily grabbed Kaylie in a one armed hug. Matt smiled, and hugged them both at the same time. He was his senior year in high school, and played soccer like a pro. Kaylie was Emily's age.

"It's great to see you, too, Matt," said Emily, out of breath, "but you're crushing me."

"Right oh, cuz," said Matt, grinned as he let go of both girls. Kaylie let go of Emily and laughed.

"I couldn't wait to see you!" she said, smiling, "You couldn't get here fast enough, I swear…"

"Yeah, I know," said Emily, smiling, "Who wants to help me unload the car?"

"Here," said her uncle, coming over, "We'll get that. You three just go set up the table for dinner."

"Thanks, Uncle Ben," said Emily, and she and her cousins ran inside to prepare for dinner.

"So," said Emily's aunt, Mary, during dinner, "How was the trip?"

"Great," said Emily, the same time her mom said, "A nightmare."

Everyone laughed.

"Hey, that reminds me," said Emily, swallowing her mashed potatoes, "Do you guys know a tall boy with kind of reddish hair? Who rides a motorcycle?"

"I don't think so," said Aunt Mary, "Kaylie, Matt?"

"Nobody at school like that," said Matt, "Not that I know of. And it's not exactly a big school."

"Why?" asked Uncle Ben, "Anyone you're looking for in particular?"

"No," said Emily, "Not in particular. I just saw someone like that in the graveyard on the way over."

"Oh," said Aunt Mary, "Hey, could you pass those carrots, hon? Thanks."

That night, after they'd all had dinner, watched a movie, unpacked, and Kaylie and Emily had played Truth-or-Dare in bed after the lights were out, Emily was lying on a mattress next to Kaylie's bed, thinking about the boy again. She hated it when she couldn't remember little things like that.

She couldn't have seen him back home; it would be too much of a coincidence that they'd gone to the same place for summer vacation, and at the same time. So she must have seen him here. But when?

She rolled onto her side and tried to let it go. It wasn't that important, was it? She should just try to go back to sleep.

She was half asleep when it hit her. That was where she'd seen the boy before! She closed her eyes and searched through the memory. It had been another sunny day, late in the afternoon, on her last trip here. She'd been eight years old. She was taking a walk around the town with Kaylie and Matt, and she'd stopped to look at something in a shop window. She wasn't paying attention when she started walking away again, since she was still looking back at the window, and turned and walked strait into someone. But it couldn't have been the boy! That boy she'd seen in the graveyard was at least her age, but he had been at least that age the _last _time she'd seen him. That wouldn't work unless he never got any older. That was ridiculous. It must have just been someone who _looked_ like that boy.

But even as Emily started to go to sleep, she couldn't let go of the feeling that it was the same boy, ridiculous as that notion was. She tried to forget about it all, and just go to sleep. Too bad it didn't work.

**Author's note:** I know the granddaughter thing has been done a lot, and I'm not trying to copy anyone's ideas. It just seemed like a good thing to write about. Please read and review! And any new ideas are definitely OK w/ me. Thanx!

P.S. Thanx to you all cool people who've already reviewed! Sorry, but I won't be able to update for a little while, because I don't have a computer long enough to do any real writing, since I'm working for my aunt on her ranch this summer. I'll update as soon as I can, though!


	3. Meeting Jesse

Emily closed her eyes tightly and tried to fight the oncoming feeling that she was waking up. She'd been having a good dream. There was a tall, good-looking boy in it. A boy with a motorcycle.

She thought she heard the door creak open, but she wasn't sure if it was just a remnant of the dream. Of course, why there would be a door, she wasn't sure….

Then, without warning, something big and cushy walloped her in the side of the head.

"Oh my god!" she said, bolting upright and grabbing her attacker. "Kaylie, if you ever do that again I swear I will kill you!"

"Yikes," said Kaylie, pulling away with a big grin on her face. "Chill, will you?"

Emily, smiling in spite of herself, growled and threw the pillow with which Kaylie had thumped back at her cousin. Then she took a deep breath and looked around.

Clear, light golden morning sunlight was streaming through the windows. It fell across the dresser against the far wall, illuminated the items that were resting on its top: a picture of Kaylie and Emily, when they were both eight years old, a small glass unicorn, an oddly shaped seashell, and a faded picture of Emily's Grandma Winnie, when she was sixteen, Emily's age. It had been Winnie Foster's old room. Everything was covered in a layer of dust.

"Hey," said Kaylie, climbing onto the bed with the pillow in her arms, "What'd you want to do today?"

"I don't know," said Emily, sitting up to sit against the headboard of the bed, "What's there to do, again?"

"We can go shopping," said Kaylie, "or walk up to the graveyard, or explore the woods…"

"Hmmm," said Emily, poking a pillow absentmindedly with her finger. She had never really wanted to go into the woods; she just had the strangest feeling about them.

"Oh, and Matt's got a soccer game at twelve," continued Kaylie, not noticing Emily's hesitation, "so we've got to go to that. Or we could just laze around all day and play video games, or something."

"No, I want to do something," said Emily. "What time is it?"

"About eleven," said Kaylie, "you've been asleep for forever."

"Okay," said Emily, getting up and walking to the closet where she'd put away all her clothes the night before, "let's go shopping. I brought my money."

"Okay," said Kaylie, bouncing off the bed, "I'll go get ready while you get dressed."

Forty-five minutes later, the two girls were walking up what was the town's main street, two shopping bags on each of their arms, headed to Matt's soccer game.

"We didn't get much time to go shopping, did we?" asked Emily, looking into her bag. She's bought a book, and a black t-shirt. Kaylie had spent all her time picking out one pair of pants.

"Hey, we've got the whole summer," said Kaylie.

"Yeah," said Emily, smiling. They quickened their pace, and got to the field just as the game was starting. They sat in the grass by the field, next to Emily's mom, Aunt Mary and Uncle Ben, who had been saving them a spot.

"There's Matt!" said Kaylie, pointing to one of the forwards. Both girls cheered loudly, and Matt waved. Then the game started.

"Doing rather well, aren't they?" said Kaylie a little while later, putting on a sophisticated British accent, "I say…"

Matt dribbled the ball up the field, and scored, and their side of the field cheered loudly.

"Yes, quite well," said Emily, trying and miserably failing at Kaylie's accent. Both girls laughed.

"The game's going to be over anytime now," said Kaylie, looking down at the field.

After one spectacular goal by one of Matt's teammates, the game was over, and Matt ran over to meet them. "Them" being Emily, Kaylie, and Uncle Ben; Emily's mom and Aunt Mary were going back to the car.

"Great job, Matt," said Uncle Ben, patting Matt on the back.

"Thanks," said Matt, taking a gulp of water out of his bottle.

"Hey, I have to get back to work," said Uncle Ben, taking out his wallet, "Buy some ice cream, on me. And your mom and Mary will be at the house, Emily."

"Thanks Uncle Ben!" Emily shouted as Uncle Ben ran to the car. Matt snatched the money that his dad had given them, and stashed it in his pocket.

"Hey!" said Emily.

"As the oldest, it's my responsibility," said Matt, grinning. "Oh, come on; let's go."

Emily rolled her eyes playfully, Kaylie laughed, and they started for the ice cream parlor.

The ice cream parlor was back on Main Street. It was an old-fashioned little parlor, with a counter and little tables scattered around the place. Everything was pink, white, or red; it reminded Emily of Valentine's Day. It was also air conditioned, which was a bonus, as the weather had become very hot and sunny.

Emily didn't notice it when they first walked in, but as they sat at the table by the window, she gradually became aware of someone watching her. Her eyes roved around the shop until they came to a stop at the counter were Matt was ordering their ice cream cones.

"Kaylie!" she hissed, grabbing her cousin, "It's him!"

"What?" said Kaylie, looking confused, "What the heck are you talking about?"

"At the counter," said Emily, "the boy I saw at the graveyard!"

"What?" said Kaylie, looking around to the counter, "Wait, you mean… oh, is that him?"

She'd caught sight of the boy behind the counter. He was definitely the same boy; he was wearing cargo pants this time, and a striped ice cream parlor apron over his navy blue shirt.

"Oh, he's hot," said Kaylie, grinning. "Hey, I think he's looking at you, Emily!"

"Really?" asked Emily. She'd been avoiding looking directly at the boy since she'd first spotted him. Now, she looked right at him. Surely enough, his eyes were staring straight back. Of course, they both looked away as soon as they realized they were looking at each other.

"Lucky you," said Kaylie, "He really is pretty gorgeous…"

Emily wasn't really listening to her cousin. She'd gotten a weird feeling when she looked at the boy behind the counter. It was the same feeling she'd gotten when she thought about the woods behind her cousin's house.

"Hey, you should go talk to him," said Kaylie, poking her on the arm, "You know… 'Oh, excuse me, I seem to have forgotten a spoon…'"

Emily laughed, and punched Kaylie on the shoulder. Kaylie smiled.

"I still think you should," said Kaylie.

"No way," said Emily, "Not unless I actually need something."

At that moment, Matt came back with a cone and two sundaes. He set them down, and started to sit, but then he stopped.

"I didn't get spoons," he said, "I'll go ask…"

Emily looked at Kaylie, who was smiled. She rolled her eyes.

"I'll do it," she said, standing up.

"Okay," said Matt slowly, almost confusedly, sitting back down.

Emily walked up to the counter, slightly nervous, although she didn't know why. Before she knew it, she was there, right in front of the boy, who was making a twist cone.

"Hi," he said, not looking right at her, "Just a sec…" He finished off the cone, and handed it to a little kid at the counter with a smile.

"Okay," he said, looking at Emily, "How can I help… you?' He had paused as soon as he got a good look at Emily's face. It was like Emily's brain had frozen. She forgot what she had wanted to ask.

"Uh…" she said, blinking, "Oh, sorry. Can I have a couple of sundae spoons?"

"Sure," said the boy, smiling slightly and pulling out two spoons from behind the counter.

"Thanks," said Emily, turning to go. Then she stopped herself, and turned back. "Do I know you?"

"I don't think so," said the boy, "I'm Jesse. Jesse Tuck. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Emily," she said, shaking his hand. "Nice to meet you."

"Emily Foster?" asked Jesse.

"No," said Emily, slowly, "but my mom's maiden name is Foster. Why?"

"Nothing," said Jesse, looking at her face again. "I just thought… I mean, you look like someone my… parents knew. Winnie Foster."

"Really?" asked Emily, interested. "She's my grandmother. I noticed… you were at her grave yesterday?"

"Yeah," said Jesse, looking at a slight loss for words. "I was… curious. I mean, I met her a long time ago."

"Really?" said Emily again, "She died when I was five."

"Yeah, it was a really long time ago," said Jesse.

"Well," said Emily, looking back at the table where both of her cousins were looking strangely at her, "I better go. It was nice to meet you, Jesse."

"You too," said Jesse, and then, "Hey, do you think I could see you again?"

Emily smiled questioningly. "I guess," she said, "Do you work here every Tuesday?"

"No," said Jesse, "I'm just in town for a long vacation, and I'm making some money. Summer job, you know. I won't be working here for long. But I'm going horseback riding tomorrow, if you want to come. Up in the woods."

"That would be cool," said Emily, smiling. "Thanks. What time?"

"Tomorrow at eleven," said Jesse, "Are you staying in the big Foster house?"

"Yeah," said Emily.

"I'll meet you at the crossroad behind the house, then," said Jesse, smiling. "I'll have a horse for you."

"Okay," said Emily, smiling. "Thanks. This'll be great."

"See you there," said Jesse, grinning.

Emily, feeling excited, hurried back to her table, clutching the two spoons in her hand.

"What was that all about?" asked Kaylie, taking her spoon.

"Nothing," said Emily, still smiling, "We just introduced ourselves and stuff. I'm going horseback riding with him tomorrow."

"Whoa," said Matt, looking at her, "moving at little fast, aren't you, Speedy?"

"I don't know," said Emily, "It's not a big deal… Oh yeah! And he says that his parents knew Grandma Winnie, so they're probably old family friends, and your parents just don't know they're in town yet…"

"You're assuming an awful lot," said Matt.

"Hey, lighten up," said Kaylie, grinning as she pretended to fling ice cream at her brother. "What was his name anyway, Emily?"

"Jesse," said Emily, "Jesse Tuck."

"Hey!" said Matt and Kaylie at the same time.

"What?" said Emily.

"Grandma used to talk about them, remember?" said Kaylie, taking another spoonful of ice cream.

"Oh yeah!" said Emily, remembering for the first time. "See, it's fine then! They are old family friends."

"I guess," said Matt, and switched to a playful, sarcastic tone. "Have fun on your date."

As one, Kaylie and Emily pretended to catapult globs of ice cream at him, and they all laughed, Matt holding up his arms as a shield against the imaginary onslaught.


	4. A Ride Down Memory Lane

"You have a date?"

It was late, at Emily had just broken the news to her mother about Jesse and the "date" she had made with him earlier that day.

"It's not really a _date_, Mom," said Emily, looking through her things to see if she'd brought her jeans, "Think of it like… going somewhere with a friend. Gotcha!" She pulled out a pair of worn blue jean from the dresser.

"Yes, a _male_ friend," said her mom, crossing her arms and sitting down on the bed. "You know _nothing _about him."

"I do to," said Emily stubbornly, folding the jeans and looking for a t-shirt. "I all ready told you he was a Tuck. You know, Grandma used to talk about the Tucks all the time, and he said he's parents knew her… who else could he be?"

"Who else indeed?" said her mom quietly, her eyes staring at nothing in the middle of the floor.

Jenna Bannock, Emily's mother, had remembered well her mother's stories about the Tucks when her daughter had told her about her date. Winnie Foster had told her children about the time her parents _thought_ she had been kidnapped, but she had really been staying with a family, the Tucks, that lived in the woods behind this very house, and how Mae Tuck had protected Winnie from a mysterious man in a yellow suit, and other things. But just because the Tucks had been her mother's friends, Jenna Bannock still had understandable reservations about letting her daughter go off with one of them on a date, alone, in those woods.

"Mom, come on," said Emily, "other kids go on dates right after they've met someone! Please?"

"I don't know," said her mom, stroking a black cat that had just jumped into her lap. "What'd you think, Jinx?"

"You're asking the cat?" asked Emily dryly. "Come on Mom. It's just a date."

She pronounced every word in the last sentence clearly, distinctly, and plainly.

"Fine," said her mom after a moment's thought, "but I want you to take my cell phone

"Thank you!" said Emily, hugging her mom quickly and setting the t-shirt she picked out next to her jeans.

"Yeah, yeah," said her mom, picking up Jinx and getting to her feet, "Now get ready for bed. It's got to be at least twelve thirty."

"Good night," said Emily, shutting the door after her mom.

As she got changed and ready for bed, Emily thought about Jesse. So he was a Tuck. She tried to remember everything her grandmother had told her about the Tucks. Jesse must have been named after his grandfather, because the Jesse Tuck in her grandmother's stories was probably too old to be this Jesse's father, although it was possible. And Emily must have seen Jesse's older brother when she was eight. If he had an older brother. And if that were true, she realized, then this Jesse would be kind of like the one her grandma told her about.

It was funny; even though she'd never met Jesse before, she had the feeling that she'd known him her whole life. And then there was a different feeling, a fluttery one that she got inside when she thought about him….

_But that's probably just his good looks, _she thought to herself as she got into bed, smiling.

The next morning, there was chaos upstairs in the Foster house.

"I can't find my stupid brush!" Emily shouted to Kaylie from the bathroom across the hall from her room. Kaylie was already scattering everything Emily had brought all over her bed, trying to find her cousin's eyeliner.

"Well, it's not here!" Kaylie said irritably, "and why do you need eyeliner anyway? You've got gorgeous eyes without it!"

"Because I need— aaah!"

Emily had tramped out of the bathroom only to fall face first on to the hard wood floor, avoiding Jinx the cat, who had chosen that moment to dart between her legs.

"DAMN IT JINX!" she yelled, getting to her feet. She had split her scalp right underneath her hairline, and it was bleeding.

"Emily!" yelled Kaylie, running out and grabbing her arm. "Are you okay?"

Without warning, Emily burst into laughter.

"What?" asked Kaylie, completely baffled at her cousin's outbreak of ecstasy.

"I don't know," said Emily, calming down a little. "It was funny for some reason. Here we are, all panicked and rushed, and then, BOOM! The Jinx strikes."

"I think someone stayed up to late," said Kaylie, smiling in spite of herself. "How's the head?"

"It's fine," said Emily, laughter ceasing, but a grin still on her face. "I just need a tissue or something until it stops bleeding. Here, you get that, and I'll find my brush. And just forget about the eyeliner."

Kaylie rolled her eyes and went to get some tissues while Emily finished getting ready.

Ten minutes later, after Emily's cut had stopped bleeding and she'd brushed her hair and put it into a ponytail, she was heading out to the crossroads behind the house. As she walked along, kicking dirt into the air, she tried to calm the butterflies in her stomach.

It seemed the had barely left when she was there, and there was Jesse with two horses.

"Hi!" she said, waving and hurrying over. Jesse smiled.

"Hi," he said, handing her the reins of one of the horses. "I remembered last night that I didn't ask you how much you had ridden before."

"I used to get ridding lessons at a stable near our house," said Emily, "on a really frisky horse. His name was Demon. I'm pretty good, I think."

"Well," said Jesse, "I brought Angel just in case. She's real sweet."

The horse next to him, a light bay mare, nickered softly and nosed Emily's shoulder. Emily smiled and rubbed her velvety nose.

"Is she yours?" she asked.

"Her?" said Jesse. "Nope. She belongs to the riding stable on the outskirts of town over there. I'm working there, too. Every other day. Denver here's from the stable too."

His horse was a tall, dark chestnut gelding, with soft eyes and a square head.

"But I have a horse," said Jesse, "his name's Scout."

"That's cool," said Emily, smiling.

"Yeah," said Jesse, seeming to think that he'd talked too much. "So, let's go then!"

They mounted, and started for the woods. Emily knew that were there trails through the woods, but they were really just deer paths. She didn't know of anyone actually making riding trails through the woods, mainly because most of the woods still belonged to the Foster family, otherwise known as her uncle, aunt, and cousins.

"So," said Jesse as the entered the woods, "what happened to your head?"

"I tripped over a cat," said Emily, smiling. Jesse laughed.

"Sorry," he said. "I guess it wasn't that funny."

"It was, actually," said Emily, smiling at him.

"So are you staying with your cousins for the summer?" asked Jesse.

"Yeah," said Emily, "I haven't seen them in forever. The last time I was here, I was eight." This reminded her of something. "Hey, Jesse, do you have an older brother?"

"Yeah," said Jesse, "my older brother Miles. Why?"

"Nothing," said Emily, "I just thought I might have seen him before. When I was eight."

"Oh," said Jesse, and Emily didn't notice as his voice caught on something. She was paying too much attention to something up ahead of them. There were on what seemed like a real trail, only overgrown. And up ahead was what looked like the remains of some sort of structure.

"Hey, what's that?" she asked, more to herself than to Jesse. "Come on, let's go check it out."

She stopped her horse, and dismounted. Jesse stopped Denver, but his eyes were on the structure.

"Damn," he said softly, dismounting and leading Denver up to where Emily was tying Angel.

"Hey, maybe we should just leave," he said. "There's probably nothing in there anyway."

"What," said Emily, smirking a little at him, "are you afraid of ghosts?"

"No," said Jesse, tying up Denver, "buy you don't know what kind of animal could have its burrow under that… thing."

But Emily was already walking up the burned up house, and he had no choice but to follow. Her stubbornness reminded him of someone he'd met a long time ago. In these very woods, as a matter of fact, not too far from here.

"Okay, you looked," said Jesse, "can we go now?"

Emily kicked aside some thick, rotted planks of wood. "Hey, look at this," she said, picking up what was left of a glass bottle. It was blackened and burned and twisted.

Jesse walked around her, and stood in a spot in the middle of the rubble. Then, he leaned over and moved some of the wood. There was a hard, metal lump there. He picked it up and ran his fingers over it. It must have been the brooch he'd bought for his mother in Paris. So, this had been her room…

"Hey, look," said Emily, holding up something. Jesse looked at her, and his eyes fell to the object in her hand. It was unmistakable. His mother's music box.

"Wind it," said Jesse.

Emily looked at the music box for a moment, then found the key, and wound it up. Miraculously, it still worked. As Emily's hand turned, an eerily, soft music played. A weird feeling came over Jesse. The same feeling was coming over Emily. Without warning, the music stopped.

"Jesse," said Emily softly, "do you think anyone… _died_ here?"

"I doubt it," said Jesse, just as softly. Emily didn't question his doubt. Fortunately, she didn't feel like hearing an explanation, and Jesse didn't feel like giving one.

"You're right, Jesse, let's go," said Emily.

"Can I…" asked Jesse, swallowing, "can I keep that?" He pointed to the music box.

"Be my guest," said Emily, handing it to him. They made their way over to the horses, and mounted, then continued the ride, leaving the burned house and it's mystery behind them.

"That was kind of creepy," said Emily, shivering, but smiling as they got out of view of the house.

"Just a little," said Jesse, smiling back. But his smile died shortly afterward; they were coming into view of something else he'd hoped to avoid. It appeared he didn't remember the woods as well as he would have hoped.

"Hey, I remember this!" said Emily, smiling widely as they reached the spring, and the tree with the "T" carved into it. "Grandma told me about this tree, and the spring. I think she said it was poisoned, or something."

"Yeah," said Jesse, "I think it is poisoned."

"So, what it, like, your great-grandfather, or something, who carved that?" she asked, pointing over Angel's head to the "T" in the tree.

"Something like that," said Jesse, forcing a smile.

"Cool," said Emily, and Jesse was glad to see that she rode past the spring instead of stopping. He lingered for a moment longer, and then trotted Denver up next to her.

"Hey, do you want to meet my mom, and aunt and uncle?" asked Emily. "I mean, they'd love to meet you. Oh, and Kaylie and Matt would really love to meet you! They're my cousins. You know, the ones who were at the ice cream shop."

"Sure," said Jesse, smiling. What harm could he do in meeting Emily's family? He was seen by tons of people at the stable and ice cream shop every day, wasn't he? "Maybe you could me Miles, and my parents. They'd love you, I'm sure."

"Cool," said Emily. "Can I meet them tonight?"

"I think so," said Jesse. "In fact, if you ride Angel back to the stable with me, then you can meet them right after that."

"Great," said Emily. She wasn't sure why she wanted to meet Jesse's family so much, but she was just starting to get a strange feeling. It seemed all her strange feelings lately were triggered by the Tucks.

**A/N**: Yes, I did finally update. Sorry it took a little while. It might a while more before the next chapter, because I'm going to Europe, and I don't know how often I'll have a computer. Thanks to every one who's updated.

Oh, yeah… I have one idea about the ending to this story, but if any of you have really great ideas, preferably ones that don't involve killing everyone in Emily's family so she can join the Tucks, do tell. Much appreciated! Thanx!


	5. It's what I still got

"So I'll see you later," said Jesse, stuffing his hands in his pockets and smiling.

"Yeah, definitely," said Emily, smiling. "I'll bring Kaylie and Matt by the ice cream shop to see you. It's too bad they weren't here…"

"Yeah," said Jesse, kicking a pebble with his foot. "Well, see you then."

"Tell your family it was nice to meet them," said Emily, smiling. "Bye Jesse. I had tons of fun."

"Me too," said Jesse, turning to go.

He vaguely heard Emily say "bye" again, and shut the door as she went into the house. Then he started back toward town, toward the hotel where his family and he were staying.

The meeting between Emily and his parents hadn't gone exactly as planned. Sure, to Emily it was probably great, but she didn't know his parents. He couldn't tell what they were thinking the entire time, and he didn't like it. He didn't want to go home and have to listen to them when they could say what they'd wanted to say.

He walked down Main Street. The town had changed a lot from when he'd last been there. At least he'd known about Winnie this time. At least he didn't have to learn that she was dead this time. He thought back to when he'd first found out… But what was really eating him inside was that he felt hardly any pain at all now when he though of Winnie. He'd always thought before he'd found out that if Winnie died, his heart would break, and he'd be grief stricken forever. Maybe a little romantic and dramatic, but that was pretty much what he'd thought. But the sadness that he though would accompany him everywhere after Winnie died had all but completely disappeared. And something else was taking its place.

Was she really Winnie's granddaughter? She looked just like her. He also had this weird feeling around her. At first he thought it might be the way he'd felt about Winnie, only this felt different. Like there was something more.

He'd come to the hotel. He dreaded talking to his parents as he climbed the stairs up to their room. He sighed, took out the card-key to their suite, and opened the door.

His mom and dad were sitting on the couch. Miles was at the small table in the kitchen. All three looked up when he came in.

"What?" he asked immediately, shoving the card-key deep into his pocket.

"What d'you mean, what?" asked Miles, his eyes steely. Not cold; just hard. "You know what."

"If this is about Emily…" Jesse started.

"We don't want you to be hurt again, Jesse, that's all," said his mother, looking sad.

"I'm not gonna be hurt again, Ma!" said Jesse indignantly. "I'm not hurt."

"We don't want anything to happen with you and the girl," said Tuck, getting to his feet.

"Like what?" asked Jesse.

"Jesse…" Miles started, getting up from the table and starting toward him, but Jesse cut him off.

"I don't want to even talk to you, Miles," he said irately. "I don't need to hear anything you're going to say. I don't--"

"Look," Miles said softly, harshly, coming over to Jesse and taking him by the shoulders, "remember that night with Winnie in the woods? You said I didn't want you to have what I lost? Well, you were wrong. There's nothing wrong with what I lost. It's what I've still got that hurts."

Jesse was silent for a moment, and then he shoved Miles' hands off his shoulders. "I don't want to hear it. I'm going to the pool."

Without another word, he stalked off into his room, grabbed his bathing suit, and headed down to the swimming pool.

**A/N: ok, it's short and boring, but I promise to write more as soon as I can! Thankz to those people who reviewed!**


	6. King Kong and the Crazy Old Man

"Chocolate in a chocolate cone with chocolate sauce and chocolate sprinkles, please."

Jesse looked up from the ice cream he was scooping for the little kids on the other side of the counter with their faces pressed against the glass, and came face to face with Emily and her pearly white smile.

"Oh, hey," he said, smiling and handing the ice cream cone he was holding to the little blonde girl. "That's a lot of chocolate, by the way."

"I know," said Emily, smirking and walking along the counter with him as he went to get another cone. "I don't actually want it, you know. So, when are you getting off?"

"In about ten minutes," said Jesse, "your timing's impeccable."

"Why thank you," said Emily.

"Hey!" said a little voice from around Emily's waist, "we want our ice cream! Talk to your girlfriend later!"

Emily and Jesse laughed.

"Well someone's got a big attitude," said Jesse, giving the ice cream to the last little girl in the group. She stuck her tongue out at him and she and her friends went to a table by the front window of the ice cream parlor.

"They can't be older than third graders," said Emily.

"Ha, yeah… evil little twerps…" said Jesse, glaring at the kids with a grin on his face. Emily noticed that he looked extremely hot today in baggy jeans and a dark navy blue shirt.

"So, do you want to go somewhere?" she asked.

"Uh…" said Jesse, looking at his watch. "I have three minutes left."

"Oh come on." Emily ground her teeth in mock frustration. "So… what do your parents think about me?"

Jesse looked up at her, and hitched a smile onto his face so fast that Emily almost doubted it was never there, but she was sure she'd seen a flicker of something in Jesse's face….

"Oh, they love you," said Jesse, "Mae thinks you're the greatest thing since the invention of indoor plumbing."

"Ah," said Emily, smirking, "I just _love _being compared to waste disposal."

"Hey," growled Jesse, "that's not what I meant. If it makes you feel better, Miles think you're the prettiest girl on the face of the planet…"

"Oh yeah?" said Emily, grinning. "What'd you say?"

"Uh…" said Jesse, his cheeks turning reddish. He suddenly became very interested in the way the function of the ice cream scoop. "Well, I didn't exactly argue with him… if that's what you mean, I mean."

Emily blushed, trying not to smile. "Thanks… hey, how much time do you have left?"

Jesse looked at his watch, glad for the change of subject. "Wait for it…" he said, "wait for it… ha!"

He grabbed his backpack, which was behind the counter, and came around to where Emily was, and they left the shop.

"So what do you want to do?" he asked, raising one eyebrow. "There's just so much to do around here…"

"Oh yes," said Emily, "so much. Hey, I think King Kong's playing at the movie theatre. Do you want to go?"

"Sounds good," said Jesse. "I think I actually have enough money, too…"

"Sweet, it's just around the corner."

It was bright, sunny, and hot, and the movie theatre had air conditioning, which was an additional reason to go see a movie. It was cool and dark in the theatre, and it wasn't even crowed, because people were mostly out doing something, like Matt, who was at soccer practice, and Kaylie, who was out with her friends.

Jesse and Emily got a spot in one of the back corners, where it was the darkest. As the movie started, and the stupid adds about Coke and turning off your cell phones came on, Emily glanced over at Jesse. He was looking at her too, and as their eyes met, they immediately looked back toward the screen, embarrassed.

The movie started playing, but Emily was only half watching. She was too busy thinking about when she could glance over at Jesse again without him noticing. The thing is, she had a feeling that he was doing the same thing, and every time she tried, he was already looking at her. This resulted in both of them looking away again, but eventually, when she looked up, Jesse attempted a grin at her. She smiled back. Somehow, her hand crept into his. It stayed there the whole movie.

When the lights came up at the end, they found Emily with her head on Jesse's shoulder. The movie had been three hours and forty-five minutes, and it was now four-thirty in the afternoon. Emily and Jesse continued to hold hands as they left the theatre and went out into the light. They had a good laugh about how much the light hurt after three hours and forty-five minutes in the dark.

"So where do you want to go?" asked Emily, squinting but smiling. "Unless you have to go somewhere… home, or whatever…"

"Nope, I'm all…" Jesse started, but he was cut off suddenly.

An old man in an old red sweater and bent over on a cane had come right up to him, and had started to prod Jesse in the chest with a finger.

"You," he said, his beady black eyes flooded with suspicion, "I know you, boy… you're one of _them_, ain't ya? I was a young man the last time… little boy when my father told me about you and that bloody house in the woods…"

Jesse looked like he'd been shocked stiff. His eyes were wide and glassy, and his mouth was slightly open. Emily looked from him to the old man, who seemed to be muttering incoherently to himself now, but still everyone once in a while poking Jesse in the chest.

"Jesse," said Emily, squeezing his hand, and pulling slightly. The old man was obviously crazy, and they should probably leave him alone. "Jesse, come on."

"Yeah," said Jesse, following her. They went back past the theatre again, and continued down the street.

"That was really weird," said Emily, looking up at Jesse as they headed past all the shops and cars passed.

"Yeah," said Jesse again, nodding absently. "Weird."

"Yeah," said Emily, frowning slightly. Jesse seemed… far away, like he was thinking of something, thinking hard.

They just kept walking. They were walking in the direction of the graveyard, Emily remembered. She kept talking to Jesse, and he talked to her, but he never seemed like he was concentrating on that, exactly. He knew was she was saying, and responded, but he always seemed to be thinking of something else. She did manage to ask him if he wanted to take a walk in the graveyard, and he said yes.

After they got into the graveyard by the side gate, Emily looked around at all the graves, and then back at Jesse. He still looked distant. She couldn't take it anymore.

"Jesse," she said, turning to face him, and slipping her hand out of his.

"Hmm?" said Jesse, looking at her but not really seeing her.

Emily put one hand on his shoulder, leaned up, and kissed him gently on the lips.

Jesse just stood there for a moment, and then looked at her, actually seeing her, a strange look on his face, almost a smile, but not quite there.

"Is there something wrong?" she asked quietly, looking right into his eyes.

"Not anymore," he said, leaning down to kiss her. She put her arms all the way around his neck and kissed him back.

**A/N: ok, oh so super cheesy, I know. :D I chose king kong because it was the movie my sister and I saw right before I wrote this, and I couldn't think of anything else. more coming, I promise!**


	7. I want an explination, Jesse Tuck

The funny thing about summer was how long it stayed light out. Maybe it was just Emily's imagination, but she was sure she'd been walking around the graveyard for hours. Possibly days. Possibly years. It was the weirdest feeling she'd ever had. And however long she'd been there, the light never changed, the trees cast the same green dappled patterns on the ground around the weathered headstones and marble angles, and Jesse's hand was in hers, a bit rough, and cool. Her mind had been nearly blank, beautiful lacking in any thought except that of how perfect the moments passing were, until something at the back of her mind had remembered that she didn't know the time.

"Jesse?" she said, stopping and turning to look at him. "Do you have a watch?"

"Oh, no," said Jesse, his face changing from being peaceful, contented, happy, to its normal self. Emily couldn't figure out exactly what changed; maybe there was a shred of worry that was constantly there, that she hadn't noticed before it had disappeared. "Do you have to go home?"

"Yeah, probably," she said, apologetically. "They're probably wondering where the hell I am."

"Yeah," said Jesse, smiling, "should've though of that, huh? Well, okay, I'll walk you home. I mean, if you want?" The glimmer of hope in his eyes caught her attention and made her want to laugh.

"Yes, that _would_ be nice, Mr. Tuck," she said.

She extended her elbow, and then remembered that the woman's arm was supposed to go through the _man's_ elbow. Jesse grinned, stuck his arm out, and led her arm through his with his other hand. They started to walk toward the side gate that led out of the graveyard.

"So," said Jesse, as they walked along, "what would Miss Emily be doing tomorrow?"

"I don't think Miss Emily knows," said Emily, smiling slightly, "I might actually have to spend sometime with my family this vacation…"

"Oh, yeah," said Jesse sheepishly, looking at the ground.

They'd come to a road. It wasn't that busy a road; it was sort of the mini-highway around the tiny town, but cars rarely actually took it.

"Hey, race you back to town!" said Emily, unhooking her arm from his and turning to face him, while running backwards toward the road.

"Hey!" said Jesse. "Head start! No fair!"

Emily laughed and turned around, jogging out onto the deserted road, making sure not to go too fast for Jesse to catch up.

As soon as she got onto the asphalt, however, the world turned into slow motion. Cursing her own clumsiness, she watched helplessly as she tripped over her own feet, and fell over onto the road. It must have been quite a fall; she skidded a little, scraping here knee and arms as she tried to break the fall, and ended up in the middle of the road.

At that moment, her ears picked up the noise of a car moving at a high speed toward her. Her brain didn't fully register what was going on; slowly (or, what seemed slowly to her) she tried to struggle to her feet as the vehicle came into sight, the sunlight glinting menacingly off the shining white paint. Even in slow motion, the car was moving fast.

Emily had never experienced life flashing before her eyes before. Even now, she wasn't sure if this was really what was happening. But she supposed it was closest she'd ever been. She began to blank out everything except the most pointless memories or thoughts. She was suddenly very aware of how _alive _she was, and how dead she was about to be.

In an instant, everything sped up. Emily's heart started beating again; hands pulled her the rest of the way to her feet, and shoved her over again, out of the way of the car. She ended up on her side in the grass on the other side of the road, her face full of the smell of grass, and her lungs _breathing_, reminding her that she was still alive.

She pushed herself off the grass and to her feet as quickly as she could. Panic gripped her again as she looked back to the road. The car had slowed and jerked to a halt. The driver's white face appeared out the driver's side window, and the driver (a man about twenty, wearing sunglasses) started quivering and withdrew his head, rolled up his window, and sped off.

Emily gaped after him, wanting to scream, and then looked back toward where she'd been on the road before. Her heart skipped several beats, it seemed, and she ran out onto the road again.

Jesse looked as if he was sleeping. There wasn't a mark on him. He looked peaceful and serene.

"Jesse!" said Emily, in a voice that seemed to be in fast-forward as she grabbed his hand, "Jesse, Jesse, oh my god! Come on Jesse, come on, come on…!"

She jumped. Jesse's hand had moved in hers. She leapt away from him, running on her instincts alone. She watched in horror as he shook his head, sat up, and looked at her.

For split second, nothing happened. Their eyes held each other for a moment, Emily's scared and wide, and Jesse's just slightly less so. Then Jesse hid his face in his hands, groaned, and pronounced, very audibly and clearly, "Shit."

Emily did some more gaping. She seemed to be doing a lot of that lately.

Jesse's face resurfaced, red and tight with was seemed to be some sort of pain.

"Jesse…." said Emily; all she managed to get out for the moment.

"Okay," said Jesse, half to himself, half to her, and he got to his feet. "Okay."

In all fairness to Emily, she regained her composure fairly well.

"What… just happened?" she asked, her voice surprisingly strong and unwavering, even to herself.

"It's… kind of a long… it's hard to explain," said Jesse, struggling with the right words to say. He stepped toward her, and was greatly relieved when she didn't step away.

"I have lots of time," said Emily. And at the moment, it did seem she had time; she'd forgotten all about having to get home.

"We live forever, okay?" Jesse snapped, his face becoming worried as he ran his hand through his hair.

"What?" said Emily, sure her brain hadn't actually registered was Jesse had told her. At least, not correctly.

"Can you come to talk to my family, please?" asked Jesse, worriedly. "They'll be able to explain it. Please?"

Emily didn't know what to think. She'd just practically seen Jesse Tuck come back from the dead. A large part of her wanted explanation.

"Okay," she said, "I'll come. And I want a good explanation, Jesse Tuck."

"Oh, don't worry," said Jesse, which seemed to be the opposite of what he was doing, "you'll get one."

**A/N: I updated. Kudos for me. :D Hopefully more coming soon. Opinions on this specific chapter, anyone? And please please please! I need new ideas for the ending… any input GREATLY appreciated! **


	8. Because You're Too Amazing

"So," said Emily, biting her bottom lip (her nervous habit), and looking back at the Tucks, who were sitting across the hotel room on the couch, "you really all live forever? You can't die?"

"I'm afraid not," said Tuck, sounding tired.

"So…" said Emily. She seamed to be rather fond of that word lately. "Then how old are you?"

Tuck laughed, taking Emily be surprise.

"Honestly, Ms. Emily," he said, with a wry smile on his face, "I have no idea. I've stopped counting."

"Oh," said Emily, feeling stupid. "Right."

"I'm 212 years old," mumbled Jesse under his breath.

Emily looked at him, sure her eyes had widened to at least the size of a quarter. Jesse was _two hundred and twelve years old_? That meant he had to have been born in… (rapid calculations flashed through her head)… in the year 1795 AD. _1795 AD_? That was insane!

"So, Emily," said Mae, her hands clasped together on her lap, "you can understand why we'd be concerned about anyone discovering the secret, of course. People cannot find that spring. It would be chaos. Everyone would want to live forever."

"Fools," grumbled Miles, who had been standing in the kitchenette, facing away from the group. It was the first thing he'd said the entire time. Now, he faced the group again, and walked over, brining a chair. He spun it around and sat on it backwards, facing the group.

"So now you know," he said to Emily. "You can't tell anyone."

"I don't think they'd believe me anyway," said Emily, more to the ground than anything else. She wasn't upset or afraid; she was just in a state of semi-shock. It wasn't everyday you found out your date was immortal.

"Good," said Tuck, but not unkindly. "Now, it's getting late; I wouldn't want your family to worry about you. Jesse, take Emily home."

"Yes sir," said Jesse, getting up from his chair next to the couch as Emily stood. They walked toward the door, but before Jesse could open it for her, a voice stopped them.

"And Emily," said Miles, and his voice sounded almost pleading. "Stay away from that spring. Immortality isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"I know," said Emily. "Don't worry; I have plans that involve growing up."

Miles actually smiled at her.

Emily and Jesse hadn't said anything for most of the walk home. It was too awkward. They didn't want to talk about immortality, but that seemed to be the only thing they _could_ talk about, under the circumstances. Finally, Emily cracked- she couldn't take the silence anymore.

"You know, I don't care if you're immortal," said Emily. "It's not like it's going to change anything! Things are exactly the same, except that I know something else about you, and yeah, maybe in a couple of years I'll be older than you, but things are still the same way they were before, and—"

Jesse turned and smiled at her, and then started laughing at her little outburst. He took her hand, and swung it a little.

"So," he said, "how were things before?"

"Uh…" said Emily, feeling stupid all of the sudden. She hadn't expected him to ask her that. "They were… just peachy."

" 'Just peachy'?" asked Jesse, choking over an unexpected laugh. Then his face grew serious. "You were supposed to say, 'they were amazing Jesse, just amazing, and they'll stay that way, thank you very much'." He cracked a grin, unable to keep up the mock seriousness for long.

"Right," said Emily, rolling her eyes at him.

Jesse made a puppy-dog face. Damn the boy was too cute when he did that! That just wasn't fair.

"Okay!" said Emily, giving up. "Fine. Here it is, then: Jesse Tuck, before I found out you were immortal—"

Jesse shushed her quickly, just incase anyone was around the deserted road to the Foster house.

"Before I found out you were immortal," Emily went on in a hushed voice, "things were amazing, and they'll stay that way, because you're too amazing for them to change."

And to her vast surprise, Jesse blushed, and turned away.

"Uh uh," said Emily, pulled him back around, "there's no _way_ you're getting off that easy, Jesse Tuck."

"Well damn," said Jesse, and then, without any manner of warning whatsoever, Emily was being very thoroughly kissed.

"Well," she said, as he let her go and they both took a deep breath, "being immortal certainly hasn't made you a bad kisser."

"Why thank you," said Jesse, and he took both her hands, and kissed her again, gently.

"Good night," he said, turning to leave.

"Good night, Jesse," said Emily.

Jesse smiled at her, leaned back in, kissed her just one more time, and then turned and ran back down the road into town.

And Emily walked back into her house, feeling slightly dazed, slightly dizzy, and _very _happy.

**A/N: yay for updates and more crazy corny stuff! Oh you all know you like it. XD thankz for all the reviews! **


	9. The Spring

"You know Miles, _you_ were the one who wanted to see it in the first place," said Jesse, unnecessarily helping Emily over a fallen log as they trudged deeper into the forest. "You don't have to be such a pain."

"Come on, Jesse," said Emily, under her breath, "don't start something."

They were on their way back to the Tuck's old house. Or at least, what was left of it. Mile's had been the one who'd suggested the trip, but the entire way there, he'd grumbled incessantly, and mostly under his breath, so Jesse and Emily couldn't hear was he was saying. That didn't stop it from bothering them, though.

Miles ignored Jesse's comment about being a pain. He'd been ignoring most everything his brother had said during the trip.

"Miles…" growled Jesse, determined to have his say.

"Jesse," said Emily, looking him in the eye, "just don't."

Jesse sighed angrily, but he didn't say anything else.

After a few moment of hiking in silence, they arrived at their destination. The place had the same eerily feeling as last time, only somehow, this time, it was stronger.

Miles' grumbling stopped. He carefully made his way through the remains of his old home, occasionally bending down to pick up objects on the ground. He'd look at them for a moment, and then drop them in disgust.

Jesse and Emily didn't say anything. They couldn't really think of anything to say.

Finally, Jesse spoke.

"So, uh… the place isn't really what it used to be, is it?"

Miles laughed hollowly, turning back to face them. "No, it most certainly is not. Too bad."

He kicked a charred piece of wood over, and sighed.

"Right, well…" he said, rubbing his hands together. "I guess that's it. We can go now, then. But let's stop by the spring first."

"Why?" as Jesse, incredulously. His brother was acting very strange; first wanting to see the house, and then the spring… he new it wasn't going to make him feel any better. It would make him feel terrible, if anything.

"Relax, Jesse," said Miles dryly, "I'm just thirsty, and I don't feel like waiting till we get back to town."

"Okay…" said Jesse, eyeing his brother.

They set off for the spring. Emily was feeling very intrusive. After all, whatever had happened with the house and the spring… it had all happened before she was born. It had absolutely nothing to do with her. It was the Tuck's history, and she was now strongly feeling that she probably should have gone with Kaylie and Matt and let the brothers do this on their own.

"Hey," asked Jesse, under his voice, "you okay?"

"Oh yeah," said Emily, flashing him a smile. "Just thinking."

Jesse smiled back, and then went back to observing his brother. They were almost to the spring.

"So it wasn't your great-grandfather after all," said Emily as they reached the clear pool of water, indicated the "T" carved into the trunk.

"Nope," said Miles, kneeling next to the spring and cupping his hands to drink it, "that was Tuck." He slowly sipped the water out of his hands.

Emily realized suddenly that she was thirsty. The water looked so refreshing, so cool… she wanted to drink some.

"Oh no you don't," said Jesse, grabbing her arm and shaking it.

"What, what?" she asked, befuddled, looking up at him.

"You were looking at the water and licking your lips," said Miles, looking at her cautiously.

"Oh," said Emily, shaking her head, and then pulling the smile back on her face. "Don't worry, I'm not even thirsty."

"Good," said Miles, drinking some more water. "What about you, Jesse?"

Jesse scowled at his brother. "Not thirsty."

"Suit yourself," said Miles, shrugging. He stood up and brushed off his pants. Then he stood away from the tree and took a deep breath. Then another.

"Miles?" asked Emily, noticing his breathing. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah," said Miles. "I just feel a little weird, that's all. Just… weird."

"Well, you wanted to come up here," grumbled Jesse, glaring at his older brother.

"What's that supposed to mean, Jesse?" demanded Miles, turning to face his brother.

"It's supposed to mean that you shouldn't have put yourself through this!" said Jesse. "You knew you wouldn't like seeing the house, and the spring…"

"So when did you start becoming all responsible?" growled Miles, taking a couple of steps toward Jesse.

"I'm just saying!" said Jesse angrily

"Well you didn't need to say!" Miles half-shouted, stepping forward and shoving his younger brother.

"What the hell, Miles!" demanded Jesse, shoving him back, harder.

The next moment, they were throwing wild swings at each other, and grappling, each trying to get the other on the ground.

"You guys, stop it!" yelled Emily, clenching her fists for lack of anything useful to do. "Stop right now! Dammit, stop acting like idiots!"

Miles and Jesse didn't stop, of course. They couldn't even hear her, the way they were throwing insults and profanities at each other. Emily just had to watch as the two of them tried to wrestle each other down to the ground.

Finally, so fast Emily wasn't sure what happened for a moment, Jesse slammed into Miles, and sent him hurtling to the ground. There was a cracking noise, and then Jesse got up off his brother, who was lying on the ground, his eyes staring up at the leaves of the trees above him.

As the adrenaline died down in him, Jesse's face went from angry to scared.

"Miles?" he asked frantically, moving next to his brother.

"Goddamn it, Jesse!" growled Miles harshly, shifting a little bit. "What the hell was that?" And then a look a pure terror spread across his face. Even Emily was scared now.

Miles put a hand behind his head, and brought it back. His fingers were sticky with blood.

"Jesse," he said, in a state of shock. "Jesse, I'm bleeding."

Jesse was in just as much shock as his brother. He couldn't even speak.

"What?" asked Emily, breaking the awkward (and slightly disconcerting) silence. "What's wrong? What?"

Jesse looked at her, his jaw hanging open. Then, without warning, Miles started laughing.

"Haha, I'm bleeding!" he near-shouted, his laughter ringing around the woods.

Emily was starting to think he was going insane.

"Would somebody _please_ tell me what the hell is going on!" she demanded, her glare switching between the two brothers.

Jesse seemed to have been given the use of his vocal chords again.

"We're not supposed to get hurt," he said, his eyes still wide. "I've fallen out of trees… the horse got shot… we've been bitten by snakes, cut right through our own arms… we just don't get hurt!" His face was still a mask of amazement. "It always came with being immortal, and whatever."

"Well… wow," said Emily, capturing the moment with that one word.

"You're telling me," said Miles, grinning giddily at her.

"Right, is it safe to assume he's completely insane?" Emily asked Jesse.

"No I'm not," said Miles, his face glowing. "I'm just mortal."

"And with a very nasty looking head wound," said Emily, grinning at him. "Come on, we need to fix that."

"Oh yeah," said Jesse, almost laughing. "I forgot your actually supposed to do something when you get hurt."

"Haha, very funny," said Emily. "Now let's get out of here."

They helped Miles up, and after making sure he wasn't dizzy, they started walking back to the hotel.

"Tuck's gonna love this," said Jesse, smiling.


	10. Epiphanies

It was very nearly completely silent. As it had been on the way back from the spring. The only noise was the sound of breathing, and occasionally people outside.

Needless to say, Emily felt extremely awkward.

Mae and Tuck were sitting on the couch, staring off in random directions at nothing. Miles, a fresh bandage on his head, was sitting at the table of the kitchenette, head in his hands, staring at the tabletop. Jesse was in one of two armchairs, staring at what Emily thought was the floor. Emily was in the other armchair, legs drawn up to her chest, and feeling extremely out of place.

Even when Emily had first found out that the Tucks were immortal, she hadn't felt this intrusive. And she realized that she'd never felt this removed from the Tucks before. It was like she wasn't sitting in the room with four humans; they seemed distinctly inhuman now, wise and knowing… and old. That was a little backwards when she thought about it; when they were immortal, they seemed human, but when mortality came into it….

She looked over at Jesse, sprawled in the armchair, not moving at all. His hair was stuck up in the back, she realized. It was cute, but Emily was getting the nearly overpowering urge to smooth it. She new she was just looking for a place to put her energy.

But almost as soon as she felt the urge to fix Jesse's hair, another feeling was coming over her. As she gazed into Jesse's face, a feeling was blooming in her chest. She began to forget about everyone else in the room. She forgot about every boy she had ever liked. She even forgot where she was, and the awkwardness that had its hold of her before. And, even though she didn't know why, she was suddenly just… happy. Content. Warm.

She tried to fix the image of Jesse sprawling in that chair in her mind. She knew that she wanted to feel this simple, sweet feeling forever. That was all there was to it. She didn't even want to know what it was.

Someone, without her knowing what happened, she was curled up next to Jesse in the chair. When she realized where she was, she started. Jesse looked at her, his arm around her, his eyes concerned.

She started back up at him, realizing she concerned for him, too. He'd been sitting there and staring at the ground for a while. It was actually starting to get dark outside.

Without words, both of them knew what the other was saying.

_Are you okay?_

Jesse smiled, pulling her so that she was sitting on his lap and lying against his chest. He wrapped both his arms around her, and she smiled back up at him. And once again, they knew what they were saying to each other.

_I'm just peachy, thanks. _

The other Tucks hadn't moved.

Emily was getting tired, she slowly realized. And it was so warm and comfortable where she was, with that feeling in her chest. And she's closed her eyes, as well. She was breathing in time with Jesse, which added to the peaceful feeling. And the feeling in her chest, come to think of it.

She was asleep before she knew what was happening.

Birds woke her up. Birds, and sunlight on her face. And, once she started to regain some consciousness, she realized that Jesse's chest wasn't nearly as poofy as whatever her head was on right now. His arms weren't big enough to cover her whole body, either, and _something_ was keeping it warm.

Her eyes flickered open, and she was gazing at a wall that looked vaguely familiar. She rolled over onto her back, and stared at a dark ceiling. She was a little disoriented for a second, and then she realized that she was in her room, back at her aunt and uncle's house.

_Hi room. _

She sat up, blinking a little to get her eyes working, and then swung her legs out of the bed and headed for the bathroom.

Someone else was in there.

She tapped her foot impatiently. After was actually wasn't that long, the door opened, and her mom came out, wearing flannel pajama pants and a huge t-shirt, her hair wet and slightly curling down her back.

"Well, look at that!" said her mom, a smile splitting her face, and her eyes widening. "You're… wait… yeah, you're my kid, right?"

"Mom," groaned Emily, trying to get around her mother into the bathroom.

"It's nice to see you actually exist," said her mom, taking her by the shoulders and pulling her back around in front of her.

"Mom, I have to pee, move," Emily groaned, trying to get around again only to be stopped again.

"Just glad to see you," said her mom, taking her face in her hands and kissing her forehead. "Have a good day, honey."

"Thanks," grumbled Emily, patting her mom on the back and making a run for the bathroom door, nearly slamming it when she was inside. She heard her mom laughing outside, and then walking away.

_She's not on crack, it's just early in the morning_, Emily reassured her reflection in the foggy mirror.

It was humid and warm in the bathroom, because of the shower her mom had just taken. As Emily brushed her teeth, she thought about the night before. She was wearing pajamas; she must have gotten into them somehow.

Memories started to flow. She must be really tired not to have remembered them right away. Well, she wasn't tired; the opposite, actually: she'd sleep a little too much, and was just groggy.

The Tuck's must have come out of their trances, and noticed that she's fallen asleep. On Jesse's lap, she remembered, smiling. Jesse had gently shaken her awake, and Tuck had driven her home, and Mae sat with her in the back seat, stroking her hair as she lay on her shoulder, trying not to fall asleep again. The boys had stayed back at the hotel.

Then they'd gotten back to her house, and Mae had explained to her aunt, uncle, and mother how she'd been hiking with the boys all day.

_It was also the first meeting for the Tucks and my mom_, Emily thought, smiling. That must have looked strange. Here's your half-dead daughter, and oh, by the way, we're her boyfriend's parents, nice to meet you.

Emily wondered what conclusions the Tuck's had come to about the spring. And what it would mean for her and Jesse.

She then remembered that she was on summer vacation, and she'd eventually have to go back to her real home. She realized, whatever happened, she'd probably never see Jesse again after this summer.

She dropped her toothbrush in the sink, because her chest has suddenly started to hurt, like it was contracting.

She took a few deep breaths. She retrieved her toothbrush and started to brush her teeth again. As the gazed in the mirror, it began to fog up again.

**A/N: crappy ending, I know.  I've been sick, so I was able to have some time off to write, but my sister's home from school and has banned me from her computer. I'll write more as soon as I can!! Thankz for all the reviews!!**


	11. Fireworks

Emily walked into the ice cream shop, feeling the relief of the cool air in the place on her face. It was a particularly hot day outside.

As often happened on hot days, the ice cream shop was packed. The vendors were busy as ever, running around behind the counter, filling the orders of impatient children and chatty teenagers. Emily eyes scanned the counter until she found exactly who she was looking for. Black shirt and blue jeans, just like the first day she'd seen him.

She moved to stand next to the counter, off to the side of all the ice cream shop patrons, and waited to catch Jesse's eye.

Surprisingly, it didn't take that long. He smiled at her, and, after handing off a cone of brightly colored sugary goodness to a small child at the counter, headed over to her.

"Hey," he said. "I've got like… five minutes left. Once again, impeccable timing. Wanna grab a table and we can split something once I'm done?"

"Sounds good," said Emily, returning his grin, and then heading for one of the only tables left—a small table for two in the corner of the shop.

As she waited at the table, she thought about everything that had happened. She remembered the icy, chest-constricting realization she'd had that morning about never seeing Jesse again. She'd calmed down quite a bit since then, and decided she needed to talk to Jesse. They could find a way to see each other. They definitely weren't going to lose touch, that much was for sure. But what about his family? What about becoming mortal?

She and Jesse hadn't had time to talk about it. She didn't know how much of a right to meddle she had in the matter, anyway. But she knew that, deep down, she'd been thinking that Jesse would become mortal, and stay with her. That would be so wonderful.

But she didn't have any say in the matter. She'd only just met Jesse, really, especially in terms of his life. She was probably only a moment in the scheme of his life. Why should she matter so much? If only there were some easy answer to all of it…

"Here we go," said Jesse, making her jump. "Chocolate ice cream, chocolate cone, chocolate sprinkles."

Jesse had brought over a dish with two up-turned chocolate ice cream cones in them. Chocolate sprinkles lined the edges.

"Wow," said Emily, smiling. "It looks amazing."

Jesse chuckled, and then handed her a spoon. "Eat up."

Emily had a couple of bites. She didn't know exactly what she was waiting for. Probably for Jesse to say something. Probably for him to bring it up. But by the third bite, it became painfully obvious that Jesse was unlikely to say anything, probably for the same reason she was keeping quite.

"So Jesse," she said, starting in what she hoped was a casual tone. "I was thinking this morning…"

"Yeah?" said Jesse, putting his spoon in his mouth and then resting his head on his hands and giving her his complete attention while he sucked on it.

Emily couldn't help but smile. He was so cute.

"Dammit Jesse," she said, shaking her head. "That is just _not_ playing fair. Well, so I was thinking… and I remembered, I was only really… here on vacation."

She paused, regarded Jesse, and noted a hint of pain in his eyes. She rushed on.

"Well, yeah," she said. "So, we need a way to keep in touch. At least, if you want to, which I hope you do. I really do, so I was thinking about it, and—"

She couldn't continue, however, because Jesse had shut up her mini rant by leaning forward and gently kissing her on the mouth.

"And… yeah," she said, softly, when he drew away. She looked down at the checkered tablecloth.

"Hey," said Jesse, smiling sadly up at her. "Does it look like I don't want to keep in touch?"

Emily smiled up at him. He grinned back.

"Okay, here's what," said Jesse. "We need to talk. Really talk. And we sure as hell can't do that here. Do you wanna go to the fireworks show with me tonight?"

"Fireworks?" asked Emily.

"Yeah, fireworks," said Jesse, laughing. "I hear it's the tradition around here for the Fourth of July?"

"Oh yeah," said Emily, blushing. She vaguely remembered her mom and aunt mentioning it before she'd run out the door to get to the ice cream shop. She frowned. "I think my family's taking me…"

"Oh," said Jesse, disappointment blatant on his face.

"No problem," said Emily, nudging his foot playfully. "I'll just show up with them, be all, 'Oh my god, Jesse! Fancy meeting you here!' and then give them that puppy dog look. And then we can just run off."

Jesse's grin was back.

"Great," he said. "I'll see you there. But I think I'd better actually let your family spend some time with you this summer. See ya at the show."

"See ya," said Emily, as they both got up.

Jesse squeezed her hand, and kissed her softly on the cheek. Then he went back into the back of the shop to get his stuff.

Sighing a little, Emily left the shop. So then tonight, hopefully, they would work everything out.

As soon as Emily arrived at the fairgrounds with her family, she immediately concluded that it would take quite a while to find Jesse. Who knew there were this many people in such a small town? The place was packed, each family with their own car (or cars), chairs, little plotted out areas… it was Fourth of July madness.

_Of course, I should have known that_, Emily thought as she helped her family set out their chairs and blankets. She'd been here many times before, every time they'd come to visit for the summer.

"See him anywhere?" asked Kaylie in a whisper, coming over to help her with the chairs. Of course Emily had confided in Kaylie. And Kaylie was eating it up. It was clear that Kaylie didn't have nearly enough excitement in her life when she got so excited about her cousin sneaking off with a boy. Then again, maybe she was just been a good, interested friend.

"No," said Emily, with a sigh.

"Well, he's around here somewhere," said Kaylie, grinning. "He has to be. And you think you two would have developed some weird psychic bond by now, with all the time you've spent together…"

"Ha ha," said Emily. "Funny. No, really."

Kaylie smirked. Thenher face changed, and she stepped softly on Emily's foot.

"Ouch!" said Emily, "what—"

"Look over next to the old guy, and those college guys in the truck," said Kaylie, nodding.

Emily's eyes scanned the area Kaylie had pointed out as she set out the last chair. Finally, her eyes alighted on a reddish-brown haired head, belonging to a boy in a black t-shirt and jeans.

"You're amazing," said Emily, grinning.

"Oh, don't worry, I know," said Kaylie, falling into one of the chairs dramatically.

Jesse had spotted them and was now jogging over.

"Hey Mom!" Emily called, already walking toward him. "I look who turned up!"

The rest of her family all turned to look, just as Jesse came up to her, grinning.

"Hey," he said. "Hey, everybody."

The family all said hi, and then came the task of persuading the family.

Actually, it wasn't all that hard.

"Mom, can I hang out with Jesse for the show?"

"Sure," said her mom with a sigh, after a moment's contemplation. "What's the point in even arguing anymore? Just be back after the show, okay? We're going to rent a movie."

"Okay," said Emily with a smile, surprised. She grabbed Jesse's hand, and turned to go, but not before catching the wink that Kaylie threw her way.

Jesse had a blanket spread out on the ground where he'd been standing and watching for her before. He also had a small cooler with a few drinks and snacks in it.

"So," he said, throwing her a soda, "did your cousin know I was coming?"

Emily laughed. "Yeah," she said. "I had to tell Kaylie. She thinks it's great."

"Yeah," said Jesse, "I saw that wink."

Emily blushed, and then opened her drink.

"So," said Jesse, his voice becoming slightly more guarded all of the sudden, "uh… what was it you wanted to talk about? Because I kind of have something to tell you…"

"Oh?" asked Emily, curious. "Well, you go first."

Jesse didn't say anything. He played with the cap of his soda bottle. Emily was about to say something else, when finally, he spoke up.

"I knew your grandmother, Winnie," he said, not looking at her. He was resting his arms on his knees, and looking at the ground.

"I knew that, Jesse," said Emily, slowly. What was up?

"I mean…" said Jesse, running his hand through his hair. "God, this is so awkward…"

"It's okay," said Emily. "It can't be that awkward."

"Have you ever been in love with your girlfriend's grandmother?" asked Jesse, looking at her for the first time.

Emily didn't say anything for a moment.

"Okay," she said, after the short silence, "maybe it is that awkward. Jesse… if you loved Winnie, why didn't you tell me?"

"Ha," said Jesse. "Can you imagine where in conversation that would come up? Besides, it was just too weird… and Emily, I don't love her anymore. And I really don't think I ever did. Not like…"

"What?" asked Emily, slowly.

"Not like I like you," he said, blushing and looking back down on the blanket.

Emily didn't say anything at first, but she scooted closer to him on the blanket.

"Jesse Tuck," she said, leaning against his warm body, "I do believe you just found a very round-about way to tell me you're in love with me."

Jesse looked at her, and his usual grin was creeping back onto his face.

"I guess I did, didn't I?" he said. Then, he shifted a little on the blanket. "You cold?" he asked.

Emily realized that she was indeed, fairly chilly.

They moved, and Jesse pulled the blanket up, so that they were huddled next to each other, and the blanket was wrapped around them.

"So what did you want to talk about?" asked Jesse, now much more at ease. His breath blew over Emily's hair, tickling.

"Oh," said Emily, resting her head on his shoulder. "I guess… remember what I started saying at the ice cream parlor?"

"Mhm," said Jesse.

"Well, just that, really," she said. "I don't want to lose you just because we were only here on vacation."

"Me neither," Jesse said softly, his head coming down to rest on top of hers.

"So what are we gonna do?" asked Emily, her voice taking a slightly pouty tone. "It's so not fair."

"I know," said Jesse. "Don't worry; we'll make it work. E-mail is a lovely thing… oh, and I've heard there's this new thing on the internet now, called Myspace…"

Emily laughed, and smacked him. "Please. Conform to Myspace?"

Jesse laughed. "Okay, we can do Facebook then. Who cares? As long as we keep in touch, we can see each other. Besides… with the whole mortal thing…"

His voice got even lower here. Emily shivered.

"… we might just stick around town here," he finished.

"Then are you guys all gonna be mortal again?" asked Emily, feeling hope rising inside her, and trying to push it down.

Jesse was silent for a moment.

"Tuck's already gone up to the spring," he said. "He's been waiting for this chance for years. Centuries."

Emily laughed good-naturedly at the joke. She wished her hopes wouldn't get up that easily. And they were getting higher and higher inside of her.

"How about everybody else?" she prodded gently. _How about you?_

"Mae went up with Tuck," said Jesse. "She'll stick with Tuck no matter what, you know? And, you know about Miles already…"

He trailed off. Emily wanted to scream with frustration.

"Jesse," she said, her hand finding his inside of the blankets. It was clenched into a fist.

"Hey," she said, as his hand unclenched and intertwined with hers. "What are you gonna do, Jesse?"

Jesse was silent, once again. Quite the trend tonight.

"I was thinking, Emily," he said softly. He was looking off, nowhere in particular. "Everyone else was so ready…"

"What's wrong Jesse?" asked Emily gently, rubbing his hand with her thumb.

Jesse felt tense again.

"I was thinking… and… it's scary," he said, in the quietest voice Emily had ever heard. "I mean, I'm just really freaked."

"Why?"

"I've lived for a long time," he continued. "I mean, you know that. And being mortal all of the sudden… it just seems really frightening. Time doesn't exist in my world, Emily. It never has. Or at least, when it did, I was too young to remember it. I really enjoy life, Emily. I love it. I… I've never had to worry, because I could spend as long as I wanted on anything. And now, it's just… I don't know…"

He took a moment to rearrange his words, and then started again, slowly.

"I want to be with you," he said. "I know that. I'm just afraid… I'm afraid that after being immortal for so long, the time I'll spend with you… will go by so fast that… that it'll seem like it never happened at all."

Neither of them said a word. They just sat, huddled together under their blanket. But Jesse wasn't quite finished, apparently.

"So yeah," said Jesse, a bit lamely. "I was just thinking about it, a lot. I went to Winnie's grave. I… I do that sometimes when I'm thinking about hard stuff. And I realized something. It was funny, it was like Winnie told me, or something."

Jesse looked down at Emily and laughed a little bit. He had a goofy look on his face.

"Anyway," he said, finally, "I realized that in the end, it wasn't really that hard of a choice."

Emily's chest felt like it would burst open.

"Even if I am afraid of it…"

She felt like she was going to scream…

"I'm going to stay with you."

Why didn't he just tell her—

_Wait. What? _

Jesse was grinning uncertainly at her. She couldn't believe her ears. Then Jesse nodded, just once.

Emily threw her arms around him, feeling like she wanted to cry. When he went to wrap his arms around her, they both fell backwards onto the grass, still wrapped in the blanket. Emily landed on top, and Jesse's lips came up to meet hers. They were smiling.

And at that moment, behind Emily's head, fireworks started to explode.

**A/N: oooh!! I UPDATED!!! . what WILL happen next?? **

**0.0**

**who knows?? Hehe… or maybe I'll be annoying, and end it here, like a movie about figure skating… **

**ANYWAY. I KNOW I haven't updated in forever, but thanks to all you pushy reviews, my writing block melted. A little. Hehe. Thanks!!**


	12. Exorcism, or Close to It

The fireworks were amazing. The best in Emily's memory. Or maybe it was just the company, which was infinitely better than last time.

The last sparks and clouds of smoke faded from the sky, and Emily and Jesse were still lying on the ground, inside hands clasped, fingers intertwined. Sighing, Jesse got to his feet, and then helped Emily to hers. Neither of them felt the need to say anything.

But apparently, someone else did.

As they started to head back to Emily's family, the old man that had been watching the fireworks next to them the whole show stepped in front of them, along with an old woman with wispy white hair and shocking blue eyes.

"You're still here, eh, boy?" growled the old man, shaking his cane angrily.

It was the old man from outside the movie theatre, Emily realized. He'd changed his red sweater to a dark blue cardigan, but it was him nonetheless. A light bulb went on in her head, and she finally realized what he'd been saying about Jesse the first time they'd seen him.

"Good Lord, it's really him," said the old woman, amazement and a touch of anger on her face. "You were serious, Herbert!"

Emily squeezed Jesse's hand. "We should probably leave," she whispered into his ear.

"What're you whispering about, then?" demanded the old man, Herbert, turning and shaking his cane at Emily this time.

"You're one of them, ain't you?" growled the old woman. "You're a demon, just like them! Demon child!"

Under any other circumstances, Emily might have found this extremely comical. But as it was, it was just frightening.

"Come on, Emily, let's get out of here," said Jesse, maintaining his composure much better than he had during the first encounter with this Herbert. He started to pull Emily around the old couple.

"Demons!"

Herbert grabbed Emily's arm, preventing her from moving.

"You shouldn't have thrown in your lot with them!" said the old woman, her blue eyes blazing.

"Jesse! Emily!"

The odd party of four turned to look in the direction of the deep voice that had just wrung out across the green.

"Miles!" said Emily and Jesse at the same time, as Emily pulled her arm out of Herbert's grip.

"What's going on here?" asked Miles. His tone was deceivingly casual, but his eyes were deadly serious. "Mae wants you back at the house, Jesse," he went on slowly.

"Another one!" said the old woman. "You and the rest of your evil people better pack up and leave, smartish! This town won't stand for it!"

"Ma'am," said Miles, his tone slightly more hostile, "I'm sure I don't know what you're talking about."  
Then Herbert's cane came up, and he swung it wildly in front of him like a saber.

"Out!" he near-howled, advancing on them. "Out, I tell ya!"

"Emily, I think you should go," whispered Jesse, pushing her gently in the direction her family had been.

"Don't let her go!" said the old woman, and suddenly Herbert's attention was directed toward Emily again, who was suddenly paralyzed by an odd fear.

"Hey!" said Jesse, angrily, stepping in front of Emily. "Leave her alone!"

"Out!" howled Herbert, lashing out with his cane.

The cane caught Jesse upside the head. Emily gasped, and grabbed Jesse's shoulders, which he had hunched over in pain.

Miles, meanwhile, had grabbed the cane, and, which what might be called a certain calm, had wrenched it out of Herbert's grip.

"Jesse, Emily, come on," he said, his voice steady but dangerous. "We're going."

And with that, he turned and started walking the other way, leaving the cane lying in the grass. Emily and Jesse scrambled after him, leaving the old couple staring after them in shock.

"Miles!" said Jesse, jogging to catch up with his brother. "What are you doing here? How did you get here?"

"I brought the truck, idiot," said Miles, not slowing down. "Mae and Tuck didn't want you walking back to the hotel alone. One of those old geezers showed up at the hotel. Here," he added, throwing a cell phone at Emily, who'd jogged up next to them.

"Call your family," he said. "Tell them I'll take you home."

No one spoke as Emily made the call, although Jesse and Miles did try to give her as much privacy as possible under the circumstance, just to be polite. After she hung up, and threw the phone back to Miles, they were already at the truck. Miles had parked it out back behind the field, so they'd have to take the long way around. But it would still be quicker than waiting for the cars to get out of the fairgrounds. Emily would probably get home before her family.

She and Jesse climbed in first, and then Miles got in and started the car.

"Damn," said Miles, pulling his hand back from the ignition once the car was started, as if he'd been burned.

"What?" asked Jesse, concerned.

"Nothing," said Miles, starting to back up and turn the truck. "That guy just hit my hand with his cane, that's all. I forgot how much little stuff actually hurts."

"Are you both okay?" asked Emily, directing her question more towards Jesse.

"Yeah," the brother's said at the same time.

"Fine," said Jesse, a moment later. "It was just the shock. No actual pain. You all right?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," said Emily quietly, resting her head against the back of the truck.

They drove mostly in silence, each thinking their own thoughts. Emily vaguely noted how often that happened when she was around the Tucks.

Her house finally appeared out of the dark, scaring her a bit with it's suddenness.

"So what's going to happen now?" she asked as she climbed out of the truck. "I mean… all those old people… I mean, the ones who know about you…"

There was silence for a moment, and then Miles said, almost tiredly.

"It means we've been found out," he said. "We'll have to leave. Night, Emily."

"Wait," said Jesse, getting out, and running around the pick-up to where Emily was waiting to go into her house.

"I'm going to come see you tomorrow," he said, taking her softly by the arms. "I promise. I won't leave until I do, all right?"

"Jesse—"

"I won't leave until I see you," Jesse repeated. "But now I have to go. I'll see you tomorrow. Good night, Emily."

"Good night," said Emily softly.

They kissed once, briefly, and then Jesse got back into the truck.

As they drove off, Jesse leaned out the window, and waved.

"I promise!" he said, his voice fading as the pick-up truck drove off up the road back into town.

**A/N: Yes, yes, faithful (and not-so-faithful) readers, I've continued. Not going on was a bit of a joke. . I have too much planned. **

**It's almost done, I will tell you that… hehe… **

**LE GASP **

**what will HAPPEN!?!? insert evil smirk**

**P.S. the "company is infinitely better than last time" line was obviously stolen from Captain Jack, from Pirates one. NOT MINE. hehe. **


	13. Last Chapter

"Hey."

Emily looked up from her pillow, and blinked a few times to shake the sleep from her eyes. Kaylie was sticking her head through the doorway, with a kind, semi-sad look at her face.

"What?" asked Emily. "What's wrong?"

"How are you feeling?" asked Kaylie, coming in and shutting the door behind her.

"Weird," said Emily, as Kaylie sat on the bed. "What's _wrong_?"

Kaylie was playing with the blanket. Emily noticed she had something in her other hand. It was whitish, and looked a bit like an envelope, although Kaylie was holding it behind her leg, so it was mostly hidden, so Emily couldn't be sure.

"You've been asleep a while," said Kaylie. "It's almost one o' clock. Mom though you might just be really tired…"

"I'm _fine_," snapped Emily, even though she actually did feel a bit feverish. "_What is wrong?_"

"Uh…" said Kaylie, fiddling with the thing in her hand. "You know the Tucks?"

"_No_," growled Emily darkly, "who're _they_?"

Kaylie didn't look up at Emily. And suddenly, Emily just… knew.

"They're gone," she said quietly, lying her head back down on her pillow.

Kaylie nodded, slowly.

"Matt found this on the doorstep this morning," said Kaylie, handing Emily the thing she'd been holding.

It wasn't an envelope. But it was paper. It was just a normal sheet of paper, folding in threes, with Emily's name scrawled across the front in blue ballpoint pen. Slowly, Emily unfolded it.

_Dear Emily, _it said, _I'm sorry I couldn't give this to you in person. You have no idea how sorry. I broke my promise. That guy from the fireworks show last night got a bunch of people together and tried to attack us while we were packing the truck. I thought people were over the whole mob thing, but I guess I was wrong. _

_We're running out of town right now, and we're going to swing by your house and drop this off. Again, I'm sorry I can't see you—if we stop for long, the mob will catch up to us, and I don't want to make trouble for your family. _

_I don't think we'll ever be able to come back here, Emily. And before you hate me too much, please keep reading. Before I left, I took the trip up to the spring, and I drank the water. We're all mortal now. And last night, we decided that we're going to live in Woodbury, Minnesota. _

"Oh my god," said Emily, her eyes getting wet. At first she thought she'd lost Jesse. Losing him and getting him back again so quickly was creating an emotional storm inside her.

"What?" said Kaylie. "What does it say?"

"They're going to Minnesota," whispered Emily.

"Oh my god," said Kaylie.

Emily went back to the message.

_I know summer's going to be over for you soon, and you'll be coming back to Woodbury. I'll be waiting for you. Don't think I'm a stalker for remembering where you live. I think you only mentioned it once. _

_We're coming to your aunt's house now, so I have to leave. I'll see you soon, I hope. _

_I love you. _

_-Jesse. _

"Oh my god," said Emily again, this time with a very wide smile on her face as tears ran down her cheeks.

Jesse was right. She and her mother would be leaving in less than a week. In less than a week, she would see Jesse again. And after that, she would never have to lose him again.

**A/N: It's called Last Chapter, but it's not over! Check for updates!**


	14. Forever and Ever Emily

Dear Emily,

I never actually thought I'd be dying. A couple hundred years of immortality will do that to a person, I guess. I was seventeen for… oh, around 200 years, and now I'm almost ninety. It seems very odd.

It's funny how I lived for this long, and it took me this long to get this whole wisdom bit down. I suppose you have to get a certain amount of life experience for or something, right? And, of course, I expect you have to fall in love first.

Kaylie's daughter Aimee brought flowers into the hospital room. You know I'm not a great flower person, but these are lilies. They remind me of our wedding. Aimee's a smart girl. She somehow knew that our wedding was the best memory of my life. I could never wish for a better memory to be thinking of when I leave.

This letter is only for you, Emmie. I'm writing others for Sam and Derek, and the grandkids. But you're my wife, and the woman I love, and before I die, there are a few things I want only you to know.

The last year of my being seventeen, and the first year I met you, we watched a fireworks show for the Fourth of July, and I told you I was afraid of drinking from the spring. I was afraid that my life would be short, and I wouldn't be able to enjoy it. I had never been more wrong in my life. And you know how long my life has been.

I want you to know that every second of every day of my life have been the best I've ever had. I don't know how I could have even considered choosing immortality over you, Emily. It's crazy to even think about.

I want you to know that I've loved you more than I can possibly convey in a letter, and I still do. And after I'm gone, I still will.

I hope you're not going to be sad about what's happing. It's what's meant to happen, and we've had so many good days together than it more than makes up for whatever time this "death" is going to separate us for. I'll see you soon, don't worry.

I love you forever and ever Emily.

Love (and unlike us, the word never gets old),

Jesse.


End file.
